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Thursday, July 18, 2013

The 30 day mark is approaching for the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge! I'm down a few more pounds and feeling much better about my energy levels. It is a work in progress darlings! My family has been getting really excited about quinoa! Even Ace, who doesn't really like to try new things has been fully converted to this lovely grain. Today I taught a gluten free class on cooking with quinoa and amaranth and this new recipes has become a much requested meal around here. We first talked about cooking this amazing grain on the blog with the full Quinoa Cookery 101 Post.

Rich in magnesium. Magnesium helps to relax blood vessels, may reduce type 2 diabetes because it promotes good blood sugar levels. Benefits of magnesium include transmission of nerve impulses, body temperature regulation, detoxification, energy production, and the formation of healthy bones and teeth.

High in Riboflavin (B2). B2 improves energy metabolism within brain and muscle cells and is known to help create proper energy production in cells.

High content of manganese. Manganese is an antioxidant, which helps to prevent damage of mitochondria during energy production as well as to protect red blood cells and other cells from injury by free radicals.

Normally we just use quinoa instead of rice and boost our fiber and protein as well as getting a really cool different texture. I think it might be one of my all-time favo-rageous friends.

The quinoa black bean burgers have a really beefy texture and are full of flavor. My husband asks for them often and we especially love them drizzled with hot sauce, barbecue sauce, or homemade ketchup. The use of the quick cook blackbeans makes them come together fast. I cook the quinoa and the black beans together on the stove and they are both ready to make into patties in as little as 20 minutes. You can easily double or triple the recipe and make the patties ahead of time for keeping on-hand in the freezer for fast and easy meals as well.

Bring the quinoa, beans and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Roughly mash the black beans with a fork leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture. Add all remaining ingredients and mash well with your hands. Form the black bean mixture into 5 patties. Heat a large non-stick skillet. Cook the patties until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.Nutritional Information: Recipe yields 5 patties. Serving size one patty. 132 calories, 5 g fiber, 19 carbohydrate, 3 g fat, 7 g protein*Note: Quinoa needs to be pre-rinsed to remove the natural saponin on the grain.** If you don't have egg crystals, whole egg may be added, but reduce water by 1/4 cup.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

I love graham crackers. I've made homemade graham crackers for many years instead of buying the boxed versions and I can honestly say that it has saved us a lot of money! However, as of late I've been trying to eat carbohydrates that are much lower on the glycemic index. I have been using Blanched Almond Flour a lot more and have noticed some outstanding results. Graham crackers were a challenge because of the light color of the flour, but the addition of balsamic vinegar and Coconut Sugar to the recipe have solved that! Plus, there is a naturally occurring caramel flavor that comes with coconut sugar that I adore!

Palm Coconut Sugar is supposed to be great for helping regulate blood sugar. It is low on the glycemic index and this really affects how quickly you extract the energy from the food. It is measured and used the same as sugar in baking, but I seriously use about half. Honestly, in most baking, you can almost count on the fact that you can reduce the sugar by almost half and it will still bake pretty similarly.

Palm Coconut Sugar was explained by Dr. Oz. He showed the benefits of using it in This Video. There are still a few people who say it isn't as healthy a choice but I'm in the group that says hey, " It still has more vitamins and minerals than regular sugar and yes, it contains natural fructose. It isn't calorie free, but it is all natural." That being said, it is also very easy to harvest and is sustainable. Here's my recipe for these amazing graham crackers!Gluten-Free Vegan Almond Flour Graham Crackers1 3/4 cup Almond flour1/4 tsp salt1/4 tsp baking soda1 tsp Xanthan gum1/2 cup Coconut Sugar1 tsp vanilla2T balsamic vinegar ( I love Lucero blueberry balsamic vinegar)1/4 cup waterDirections: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a full sized cookie sheet or pizza baking stone. A baking stone will help pull moisture from your crackers and give you a crispier finished product. In a quart-sized bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and xanthan gum.

Stir the wet ingredients until the the coconut sugar dissolves completely. It shouldn't have any crystals still in the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well until a nice thick dough is made.

Generally I will flatten the dough out a little by hand on a lightly greased pizza stone and then cover the dough with unbleached parchment paper. This keeps the crackers from sticking and you won't need to add any flour to roll them out.

Roll it to 1/8th inch thickness.

Gingerly remove the parchment paper on top, being careful not to pull it away to quickly.

Lightly score the dough with a knife into 2 inch squares.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crisp. If there are thinner spots in your dough they will need to watched closely. Remove the baking stone from oven and allow to cool on the stone. I serve mine with a low fat version of the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cheeseball...

Thursday, July 4, 2013

90 Day Weight Loss Challenge continues! How is everyone doing with making good choices? I've had some good moments and some drag-out-fights with the devil on temptations. I'm pretty certain that this will be one of those challenges I will never fully overcome, but it will keep me humble and make me really rely on a Higher Power to pull me through. Granted, I've been told that it does get easier over time...but I'm not there yet. I'm in the GRRRRR stage. Ya know the one? I'v said it before and I'll say it again, some of the greatest battles in human history will never be seen by the roaring crowd in a Colosseum but will rage silently...within the secret confines of the human heart. Keep fighting the good fight darlings! GRRRR!I've been finding some great motivation just by having really simple chicken salad on hand for when I'm hungry. I'll be sharing a guest post Thursday on the Honeyville Blog for family-sized chicken salad with 2 variations, but today I wanted to share the personal sized ones. If you've never read about making shelf-stable meals in a jar, you'll need to read the posts that go into the details of that: